Learning to live
by Kibou32
Summary: Inuyasha is a halfdemon, but he doesn't know it. What's worst is that he's a demon slayer and now he's made the mistake of trying to slay one demon agent of the Preservation of Demons Agency in Japan. What will he do when confronted with the truth?
1. Chapter 1

Learning to live.

By: HopePoe26

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I, certainly couldn't do this type of work myself.

Summary: Another A/U where Inuyasha is a hanyou brought up as a demon exterminator in Kagome's time. He doesn't know much of his heritage and when he makes a mistake at trying to hit Special Agent Sesshoumaru of the youkai reserve, he finds that things are not exactly like he imagined it. Personally, I had thought this up as a S/I story with bits and pieces of a one-sided Kagome/IY romance. Hope you like it.

Part I.

It was wonderful. This dream was wonderful. The feeling of sand on his bare feet and the sun on his bare back was wonderful. Everything was wonderful except that this paradise into which he was dreaming he was in did not exist. In fact, right now; as he began to realize that he wasn't at 'home' but on a hard bench in a stuffy classroom he realized that as he raised his head towards the teacher staring sternly back at him, that he had fallen asleep on his advanced physics class. He groaned inwardly. Waited for the teacher to berate him as usual and was amazed to see that though the teacher did frown at him, he did not yell. That was heavily unusual. It made his ears twitch… his puppy ears that is… he then realized… there was youki in the room, he could almost taste it… why hadn't he known so before?

He turned around and found the youki in form of a very big dragon who was about to swallow him and the whole class whole. He felt smaller, weaker, and he couldn't even move. He gazed at his hands and found them to be too small… and now he was in a different setting, one he knew too well. It was his house, or what was left of it, he saw a big two tailed dragon destroying the town he lived in and no one but he could see him. It was hiding from the humans that hunted him meanwhile others tried to quell the fire as it raged and consumed anything that stood in front of it.

To others it seemed more likely that _he_ had set the fire. Which was why his mother was fighting it too, saying she would never give up her son. And he wondered in his tiny three year old mind if his mom could see the dragon as well. Before he could cry out though, his mother was consumed in flames and he was blown away from her remains.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And he woke to find a cat licking his face for all it was worth. He wondered what had he dreamt of his mother now of all times. He had been told that his mother had died at a fire, but he had not remembered seeing the demon as his mother's murderer before tonight. In fact, he didn't remember anything like that. He looked at the watch on his make-shift bed stand and cursed. It was half-past eleven. He was late. Very late.

She knew she shouldn't mind. After all, he was her brother for all purposes, but Inuyasha was never late unless – unless something wrong had happened to him… NO! Stop IT Sango – she thought as she checked her watch again and sighed – Inuyasha was strong. Nothing was wrong with him and nothing would ever be wrong with him. And as she had just convinced herself of the matter, in came Inuyasha thru the door and sat in front of her at the small café, his puppy ears drooping in embarrassment.

"GOD! You made me so worried!" – she hissed at him.

"I'm sorry, onee-san I overslept." – he said in his most humble voice and she knew then that he had had another nightmare.

"Your mother again?" – she whispered and he nodded. His white bangs hid his saddened eyes and it took the waitress's cough to bring them back to reality.

"Are you ready to order in?" – they nodded.

Once their coffee was served and Sango was almost over with her omelet, she looked at Inuyasha and said…

"I'm going back to China tomorrow."

"WhAt?!" – he said and though he tried very hard not to raise his voice, a few heads turned to them.

She glared at him. "Our mother is sick and I need to be there before she passes away with the family secrets. You know that!"

"I'm sorry. I had forgotten. So, when will you be back?"

"In a month."

He nodded.

"It bothers you, doesn't it?"

"It's just that I don't like you going anywhere without me Sango. We live in different cities as it is and now you're moving to a different country. I… I'm not sure what would happen and I worry a lot over you." – he said in a hushed voice.

She smiled and gently took his hand into hers. She comforted him and when it was time for her to leave, he felt heavy deep within his heart; but he knew that Sango was strong and she'd be fine.

Late at night, he walked the dull streets with confidence. Like a ninja, he moved thru the dark alleys with ease and grace. He made no sound as he stalked around his prey. His puppy ears – normally hidden from view – were alert and out of the bag, so to speak. Then his trained eyes caught something else… another demon? Why? The moon showed him the back of the demon and he was startled to see it had a tail. A brown bushy tail and the demon wore what seemed like fur with a leather vest. Very gauche – he thought – as if someone had asked for his fashion advice. Tch. He shook his head to clear himself from unwanted thoughts. Because he had been paying attention to the fashion-less demon, he forgot to keep an eye on the other demon, and he cursed when the one he was following ran.

He stopped in one of the roofs he had jumped to and took up his bow and arrow to try and hit his main mark but only managed to pin the other demon on its tail.

Kouga growled as Ayame giggled while examining his butt and his tail as well. Whoever had thrown the arrow was going to pay. A lot. But as he gritted his teeth – feeling on edge – he wondered why he could never catch his own fish without someone interfering.

"YEOW!!"

He was sure that everyone in the whole city had heard him. How embarrassing.

"There now… see the arrow is gone!" – Ayame said as she tried to stifle her laughter.

"Ayame if you continue to laugh at me, I will never take you seriously again… you HEAR ME!" – He threatened but knew it was useless as soon as a snort reached his ears. He saw Ginta at the door with a tall inu-youkai. His brow twitched and he felt that this was truly hell.

"Uh… Kouga?"

"Yeah?" – he said as he tried to stop his growl from ever coming out of his mouth.

"Totosai wants to see you in his office. He said it was very important to your case." – then he turned around and motioned for the white haired demon to follow him.

Later as he stood next to Ayame as she relayed the extent of his injury to their Commander in Chief, he bristled. Not only was he seemingly weak, but now he was supposed to take Sesshoumaru – a hunter long ago retired – with him on his mission. This was turning out to be a VERY bad day.

Inuyasha nodded every once in a while looking as if he was listening to Kagome when he was really not listening. It wasn't as if he didn't like Kagome, but usually she talked so much of not anything at all. Just mundane things that should've interested him if he were a regular teenager, but he wasn't. He could never forget what he did the night before or why he really did it. But, as he continued to half listen to his friend, he wondered why this new interest in humans. Youkai didn't often have any interest in killing humans as the world had changed a lot since the last time they confronted each other. Yet… there were clues that wouldn't piece themselves together.

From what he had learnt in the news, most of the killings were of people with some sort of criminal history ranging from embezzlement to outright murder. The police – despite the fact that most of the citizens of Japan were happy of these occurrences – were trying to find out who were responsible for this. They claimed that a murderer despite whoever was the victim, was still a murderer. So, they were trying to prevent more from happening, only that they didn't seem to know how to stop it.

"Inuyasha are you listening to me?" – a sweet voice crossed the threshold of his rambling thoughts.

"Huh?" – he turned to look at his friend and found her looking a bit crossed.

"I asked you if you were listening to me. I was also asking if you would like to eat over at my house tonight. Mama won't mind at all." – she said and he could've sworn she was blushing a little.

"Uhm… sure." – wondering if after spending three hours in the Higurashi household, he would have time to finish his homework and go on his night rounds before going to sleep at 2AM.

Sesshoumaru looked at his watch and sighed. Whoever this hunter was, he didn't appear very early into the night. He looked across the street to see the young wolf playing with a cell phone. He might've been really old and all that, but he wasn't stupid as to where technology was concerned. And even if he knew the value of a cell phone, he hated those things.

Around midnight, he sniffed the air and narrowed his eyes. He couldn't believe it! This hunter was not human! Why had the wolf not mentioned this?! He saw the hunter skulking around an old house that reeked of death. What was so interesting about this house to him? Without turning to look for Kouga, he stealthily crossed the alley leading to the old house and went after the hunter.

Inuyasha found to his disgust that the youkai he was hunting for, had disappeared. He frowned and was about to go when he saw a shadow to the left.

"Who's there?" – he said.

"I'd like to know who you are instead." – said the deep voice.

And all Inuyasha saw was a tall man with long white hair that reached his calves and wondered briefly why was it that this person looked so familiar to him. Could it be that he were that very old demon he had known once? No. He was older than him, but he was not that ancient from what he could tell from his looks. The demon showed himself to the light and Inuyasha found his breath taken away from him. This demon… was beautiful in an ethereal sort of way. And before he could do something else, his vision went blurry and then all that was left was darkness.

Sesshoumaru berated the wolf demon with a glare that said it all. And Kouga couldn't fault him for it. He felt very guilty at the moment. But he hadn't been able to stop himself from hitting the young hanyou. It wasn't so much that the hanyou had been able to best him and that he wanted revenge, it was more or less that it had been an accident. Now they were inside the demon lord's apartment. Kouga didn't know why but at the glare, Kouga realized that he should leave the two of them alone for a moment. If only for the sake of escaping a beating.

The door closed softly and Sesshoumaru sighed. He could not understand why but he felt so suddenly enamored with the young hanyou. As the hanyou lay on his bed, he found himself wanting the boy. Wanting him in ways he had never wanted others before. Why was this happening now? The desire to mate someone had never come so sudden and definite as it did now. He heard the boy groan in pain and knew that he'd wake up soon.

He found how the hanyou woke up endearing. First those cute little _and _furry puppy ears on top of a silver haired-head moved from side to side as if tracking any movement that should've been deemed dangerous. And then – very abruptly – his eyes opened and Sesshoumaru could now see clearly the golden orbs of the hanyou and he was sure this was prime inu-youkai blood.

"Where am I?" – the boy asked as he tried to move around but found himself unable to lift himself up due to the fact that his limbs felt like lead.

"Don't move too much. The healer went a bit far with the sleeping potion. It'll be awhile for you to move." – Sesshoumaru said in a tone that brook no argument. Inuyasha frowned.

"You didn't answer my question. And why would I need a sleeping potion from a healer?"

"You're in my home in Kyoto. The bastard wolf that I work with hit you really hard to leave a lesion. It could've turned fatal should I had not called a healer to help you out."

"Ah. I thank you for your hospitality, however; I guess my next question should be as to Why am I here? At all." – Sesshoumaru somehow found the pout that the young man had was truly endearing.

"Do you know who you are?" – Sesshoumaru asked deliberately sidestepping his last question with a question of his own.

"I am Inuyasha, a demon slayer hunting for a demon who's been killing humans. I was hunting him the day before but your friend stepped in my sight before I could capture him and I hit him instead. I thought he had died as the arrow I shot was filled with holy water." – he said with an air of boredom. "However now that I have answered your question, you _will_ answer mine."

"Ah… I think I should be a little more precise in asking questions. What I meant was that if you knew what species you are."

"I'm a hanyou. Half demon half human. I'm aware of my appearance but other than that I don't see why you need to know if I know that I'm a monstrosity to those that are around us."

"YOU ARE NOT A MONSTROSITY!" – Sesshoumaru lashed out at Inuyasha in sudden anger. With an effort he calmed himself as he turned to the side not looking at Inuyasha. He however didn't notice Inuyasha's wary eyes that stared at him distrustfully.

"What I meant to say is that if you know of your heritage, then I don't understand why you hunt your own kin to kill them. Did you know that there _is_ a special agency of demons that holds control over those rogue youkai that don't want to stay hidden? I had known that there were a couple of demon slayers still around, but I had not known that they had a hanyou in their midst's aiding them to kill those few of us that remain." – he turned to look back at the young man lying on the bed and found to his surprise that the boy looked mutinous. Like he didn't believed what he was saying. What was his story that made him hate demons?

"A special agency? What a load of crap. I don't see why demons wouldn't try to slaughter humans, it is after all in their nature to be savages. How demons still run amok humans is beyond me though I acknowledge the use of some very good magic spells used for hiding, it is still something that I hope someday it will become of no use. I was trained to be a demon slayer and I'm a demon slayer at heart and soul. Now when I finally am able to leave this place I will hold true my thanks to you for taking care of me, but otherwise I will not come to you for anything else."

Sesshoumaru frowned. He wished he could make him change his mind, but it was obvious that the young man was not going to crack easily.

"Is this where you live? It looks too small and too dangerous to live in." – said Sesshoumaru whilst looking at the apartment's obvious precarious bases.

"Yes this is where I live. It suits my purposes and satisfies all my needs. I suppose I cannot ask you to not speak of this place, but I know that you are not that evil-minded that should I not agree with you, you will not hold that in contempt and have me sent to an early grave." – and with that he struck his hand out in what was obviously meant to be a handshake.

Sesshoumaru shook his hand but did not let go. He knew that if he let go too easily he might not see this handsome creature again and he wished it to be so that he could see him again but he did not know how it could come to be without actually demanding the young man to do so preying over the fact that the young man owed him.

"We will see each other again." – is what he finally said and Inuyasha smiled creepily and said…

"Well yes I suppose that if I have to pay you back we will, but other than that, no; we will not meet again." – and with that he let go of Sesshoumaru's grasp and left him standing alone on the sidewalk.


	2. Chapter 2

Learning to live

By: Kibou32

Part II

Inuyasha sat in the classroom reading his homework before handing it over to his teacher when he was called over. And then there's a knock at the door and there is the school's inspector with two people standing behind him. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he perceives that the two young men in front of him and the rest of the class are demons. High class demons no less.

"Class, it has come to my attention that there are to be two new students in our class. This is Shippou Fox that comes from Ireland and Kouga Wolf who comes from England. They have transferred from their respective countries to study here as exchange students. I hope you help them get settled in their new surroundings and bare in mind that they are foreigners and thus they should be excuse to some of our traditions until they learn." "Very well, there're two empty desks in the back, please take a seat." – and at once they sat down at their respective desks and began to work it out.

They noticed however that even though most of the girls were staring at them in fascination because of their good looks; there was also a pair of narrowed golden eyes looking at them with suspicion laced with anger.

Hours went by up until the part where they had to leave and they were attested by several if not all of the girls in the classroom trying to get to 'know' them better. But Kouga had already found his blue eyes straying over to a black haired beauty that was standing next to the reason as to why he'd had to come into a school as if he really were a teenager and not an adult. He learnt briefly by making short inquiries to the other girls that the girl's name was Kagome and that she was not available.

Inuyasha half heartedly – once again nodded to Kagome knowing she was speaking of inviting him over to her house to eat. Just because he lived alone, she thought he would starve to death if she didn't feed him. But tonight… it was the night of the New Moon and Inuyasha had never _ever_ gone out on that particular night. So he declined to Kagome's invitation to going over her house for dinner and stayed at home doing homework and working out.

It was nearly four in the morning when there was a knock at the door. Inuyasha had been awake for awhile but didn't understand who in their right mind would knock at an old and empty apartment building unless he or she would know where he lived! He prepared himself… and opened the door to find Shippou Fox standing there with breakfast.

"What the hell?!" – he exclaimed surprised and a bit too grateful at the fact that the sun had already peeked at him allowing him to go back to normal.

"Look… hear me out ok? I don't mean to harm you or anything like that, I just wish to speak to you, ok? Will you let me in so we could talk?"

Inuyasha looked at him hard and then he shrugged opening the door a bit wider but not opened wide, just wide enough for the other young man to slide in. As the door closed, Inuyasha thought he'd smell a dragon, but even though he spread his senses to see if by concentrating on smelling that scent; that it was true, he found nothing and closed the door tight.

"Master!! Master wait for me!!" – Jaken ran behind him trying to get next to the big and tall dragon called Ryukotsusei.

But Jaken was forced to follow his master as he walked down the street at 4am near the apartment complex that he owned. And he was sad to know that it _was_ about to keel over. There was almost no one living there, but he was sure that that almost no one person didn't mind that it was such a ridden down hole because it offered him a perfect fort to bear out from others who might attack him.

He wished he had known of him before. That he was here was just a somewhat added bonus to make things right. A long long time ago, his brother Kyosuke made the mistake of falling into lust with a human female that went by the name of Izayoi Taiyou. Now because Kyosuke hadn't managed to keep his big mouth shut and incurred the wrath of the one that had given the woman a boy. A young inu-hanyou that went by the name of Inuyasha.

Ryukotsusei was sure that whilst the man who fathered the young hanyou was already past dead… probably about to be reborn if possible, he knew that it was his duty as the eldest brother to keep those younger than him in line. He had failed with his brother Kyosuke so he had tried to make up with the young hanyou who by his brother's fault had been left motherless at the tender age of three. This turned the hanyou, his responsibility. As told by his father, he had known that the boy existed, however he had not had anything to do with the boy before. His father had somewhat reluctantly taken care of sending the boy to China to live with a demon slayer clan to ensure his safety as others didn't take kindly to hanyous then. So he took him to a man that owed him a favor… Ryoga Satoshi – head leader of the last group of demon slayers. In complete truthfulness, it was not Satoshi-san who took the hanyou boy in, but the matron lady of the family: Akemi Takahashi.

Usually, in eastern cultures; it was the man who carried the torch so to speak and the women were not even supposed to have a say in anything… well usually. In the past one hundred years, females had taken a lot more responsibility than they were given before due to the sexual revolution and what not. However, in the Takahashi clan; it was the female who kept the name going, made decisions and pretty much ruled over the clan. Akemi Takahashi _was_ married to Ryoga Satoshi, but it was ultimately her decision to take the hanyou in and raise him to be a demon slayer.

However not long after that, he had to live for the Americas for some business and he lost contact with the boy's progress and his foster family. Now Inuyasha was back in town and Ryukotsusei was going to have to deal with him. However, he knew that this new turn of events were going to go in his favor one way or the other and he found out that he could hardly wait.

"Did you talk to him?" – Ayame asked her beloved friend Shippou as soon as he entered the building.

"Yeah. I spoke with him but even if he answered every single question I threw at him, I was not able to 'sense' anything from him."

"What do you mean you didn't sense anything from him? That was the most prominent reason as to why we let you go there instead of just Kouga. You have honed in your skills to do this for over two centuries and _now_ you tell me that he was an impenetrable wall to you?!" – Ayame couldn't believe that Shippou was telling him this now of all times! If it wasn't one thing, it was always something unexpected. And he _had _wanted to work this out for Sesshoumaru so much that he had volunteered to go even though Kouga was already pointed out as a good agent for this mission.

"Look! I didn't say I didn't get anything! I asked, I investigated and I found out a lot of what I didn't sense with my ability!!" – Shippou exclaimed annoyed at his boss thinking that Ayame should trust him for once given that there was another shot at being able to handle this case.

"You didn't push hard enough! I bet that if you had, I might've been able to have lots and lots of information on him for Sesshoumaru's benefit!"

At that exact moment, Myouga came in, stopped in front of them listening intently to what they were speaking of. Ayame immediately closed her mouth shut knowing she had said too much too quickly. And she knew when she saw Shippou narrow his deep green eye at Ayame own soft jewel green and snarled.

"Is this the whole reason?!"

"N…no… of course not!" – but Shippou could tell that who Ayame wanted was not Kouga but Sesshoumaru and he was willing to bet anything that it had always been this way.

"Sesshoumaru is waiting to see you Ayame." – Myouga uttered softly. His very short stature had allowed him to spy on both of the two youkais standing before him without them knowing it. In fact, he had heard them long before Ayame had noticed him being there. He would tell Sesshoumaru all that he had heard and seen about it and hope that the young woman in front of him did not fall too deeply from his Master's eyes.

Sesshoumaru was considered to be royalty. Not only because he was extremely strong both in character, physical strength and youki, but also because for generations he had been the interim Taiyoukai, ruler of all demons and those of demonic blood in Japan. At the beginning of the 1900's, he had suddenly decided that it was time to search for the rightful ruler as per his father's instructions. And so he began to organize the demon's society that were under him into separate organizations much like the human's had done in the Tokugawa Era, then he had to settle into being an agent – only because they had offered – and he found that to be an acceptable way to use his skills to find the true heir to the Taiyoukai's post. And even 75 years later, nothing.

But meeting Inuyasha had made him realize that finding what he wanted was not as far away from his grasp as he had thought of at first. And in trade, he might also gain his soul match.

Most of the old geezers that ran this shindig were reluctant to order him around and this made of a satisfactory way to make a living. He had been his own boss and even if he had relinquished the reins of the country to a bunch of other demons, and had volunteered to work for someone else; he was still his own boss. And he had found that while all his 'missions' were sporadic and not that difficult (but not too easy) to carry out, he liked his 'job' more than the duties he had had to carry out before.

Since he had seen the young one – for he was so much younger than himself – he hadn't been able to stop thinking of him; of wanting him for his own. Furthermore there was something about him that was too special. Could he find out that Inuyasha was indeed the true heir of the Western Lands? He hoped so. Now here came Ayame. Sesshoumaru remembered that while she was supposedly in love with him, he was only using her for his own benefits and he was not sorry for using her knowing that even if she claimed to not want something else from him but love, she was in reality lying.

Ryuokutsosei stood waiting next to his sports car that was stationed right in front of the high school building where the hanyou studied. As he waited for the lad to come out of the building knowing that by doing this he would be angering his father, but hoping to undo what couldn't be undone. Finally he saw the boy coming down the steps and as he approached him; he saw that the young man was intrigued by his presence.

"Inuyasha?" – he queried just to make sure he wouldn't make an utter fool of himself later on although he was certain it _was _him.

"Yes, that's me. Who wants to know?" – and Ryuo looked into the lad's eyes and found a certain amount of suspicion over who he was and what he wanted of the boy.

"I'm Ryuokutsosei. Lord of the Ryu clan. I've been meaning to come and talk to you for I Know that you lived in an old abandoned apartment building next to the old abandoned bank of the west side. I want to make you an offer you can't refuse." – and then he motioned for him to get into the car with him.

Inuyasha at first didn't wanted to, but he figured that whatever the dragon wanted to talk about must have been really important if he were risking to be seen with him in such a public place.

Sango was worried. Sango didn't worry often but there was something going on that scared her a lot. And she wasn't usually scared that easily… this worrying thought came in the form of not having heard of her otouto. Inuyasha. She had a younger sibling named Kohaku, but he was only ten and totally immature. Inuyasha was her otouto ever since he came into their lives in China at the tender age of four. By then, Sango was already six and well aware of the fact that whilst there were no others like him – hanyous were very scarce – he was her sibling and she loved him with all her heart.

So… she first went over to her father – now that her mother had passed away for three weeks – to ask if she could leave China and found the scent of a ryu of high energy level. Before she could go into the room and demand to know what was a ryu doing in her father's office, she heard the ryu say…

"It has been a long time Ryoga. From Ryuokutsosei… greetings and thanks for taking good care over the hanyou Inuyasha. You have taught him your work as fine as if he were your own son. For that I congratulate you personally." – and then Sango saw him bow at her father in reverence and without a tiny bit of mocking.

She slid the shoji apart for at least 1cm so that she could see what was going on without letting anyone else know that she was spying so.

"Thank you Ryumaru, it is a pleasure to see you always. What brings you here? Inuyasha isn't here."

"I know. Ryuokutsosei is with him at that moment I believe. My son does things in ways I don't like sometimes, but this time… I am glad that he saved that three year old hanyou from being abandoned to the authorities. It seems that the boy has been contacted by the special demon's agency."

"Is that so?" – said Sango's father and Sango wondered what was a special demon's agency.

"Yes. By no other than Sesshoumaru Lord of the Western Lands himself."

Sango's heart stopped. Even if she didn't know what the special demon's agency was and what it did, she did know of Sesshoumaru Lord of the Western Lands. He – the great demon lord that kept everyone in line for the two thousand years that he had been alive. He was closing in on three thousand now, what would he want with a seventeen going on eighteen half-demon?

"I see. Could he be the heir of the Western Lands? The inu-youkai have been restless for leadership ever since Sesshoumaru left the command. He was only the interim tai-youkai, but still he was a good leader and even I have to commend him for his work. He got the demons under control and organized them so well to be able to act accordingly around the humans without being found."

Sango couldn't believe it. Her father _knew _that the demons were organized and that few of those said demons hunted humans to eat them or otherwise, then why would he have the need to teach her and her brother Kohaku _and _Inuyasha to defend themselves and how to hunt and kill demons?! She didn't get it and she felt a little betrayed at how they had kept them in the dark.

"We don't know. Ryuokutsosei's certain of it, but we don't know for real up until he is tested and he gets his hands on Tetsusaiga. If he manages to take it out, then the inu-youkai will get the leader they have so wanted for so long. However, I don't understand what is Sesshoumaru thinking of doing with the boy should it be as we all think it is. And I don't believe that he knows where Inuyasha really comes from. Up until now, neither did my family."

"Yes, I know. Inuyasha not only is powerful with his demon energy, but he is also strong with his spiritual energy. Which is why I had the local miko teach him how to use his spiritual energy as weapons instead of just defense against those who might hurt him."

Her Inuyasha had spiritual energy? Like a priestess or a monk? And she hadn't known?!

"I heard Inuyasha's mother reached tenshi level before begetting him. Though of course he has the coloring and the looks of a human on the night of the new moon, he is nothing of the sort. Have you told him about this?"

She saw her father shake his head.

"No. I have not told him. He never had any sort of problems controlling either of his types of energy, so why should I tell him about it."

"Ah. Well you should have. He is after all only a teenager now. But I've been told that even a hanyou goes thru changes when reaching maturity. Unlike humans' teenage years, demons don't go thru pre-adulthood. They just reach maturity at the age of two hundred years of age. Since the pup is half-demon, he will reach maturity at the equivalent age of two hundred years; that being on his eighteenth birthday."

Sango was shocked. His birthday was due in two weeks! She would never be able to make it even if she left today. There were too many things to do before she could leave… who would take care of him whilst he were vulnerable? She prayed she could get him on the phone thru Kikyou. She was the only one who could help them at all.

Kikyou Iwaki was the local priestess of the local chinese shrine that resided near the dojo of their small town where everyone knew the other. And everyone knew that the Takahashi's were demon slayers. Even still they knew that their adopted son Inuyasha was an inu-hanyou. So… it was no wonder that when Sango came to her in hopes of getting some help with Inuyasha, Kikyou Iwaki decided to do it. She knew Inuyasha-kun and she loved him for sure. So wanting to help him and make sure he was okay in Japan, she set out to meditate for a whole day stopping only to go to the bathroom and to eat something so she wouldn't get sick. Getting sick wouldn't help Inuyasha in any way so she stuck to doing what she could to finding Inuyasha thru her meditation.

It was close to three in the morning when Kikyou awoke to find a name ringing in her head… Higurashi.

Inuyasha had wanted to accept the Ryu's offer but was also very cautious of it. If life had taught him anything, it was to be wary of a stranger's good offer, 'cause chances were the person would be some evil-minded person that wanted to hurt you. But he did considered it long and hard before deciding to pack his things up. He accepted the offer and began to get ready for the dragon to come over and pick him up on Saturday night.

Friday night reached him having dinner with the Higurashi family. Kagome had often invited him to dinner on fridays and then when Kagome's mother found out that he lived in an apartment alone, she made it mandatory for him to have dinners with them on fridays.

Just as they were clearing the dishes, the phone rang. Souta – Kagome's younger brother – ran up to the phone and after listening a woman on the other line said…

"It's for you Inuyasha."

He cocked his head to the side wondering who the hell knew he was there at the time… he put the phone next to his seemingly human ear, but in reality waited until Kagome stopped looking at him to place it on top of his head near his puppy ear.

"Hello?" – he said wondering if maybe this was a trick.

"_Inuyasha?" _– came the voice he had longed to hear from the moment the owner of that voice had left Japan to go to Kyoto.

"Sango! How did you know I was here?!" – he exclaimed softly wanting not to attract the attention of an observant but sometimes very clueless girl named Kagome.

"_I had Kikyou meditate about you… are you okay?" _– he heard her ask.

"I am ok. I'm not bruised up or anything… I have so much to tell you, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait for me to call you back. Other than that, how was the matron ceremony?"

"_It hasn't been done yet… I get the feeling that my father is hiding things from me. I managed to get here before mother parted, but even then she wasn't able to tell me a lot of what was to be expected of me now. I am actually more concerned over you. Has your youki begun to spiral out of control?" _– she said with a tone of urgency in her voice.

"Uh, no. It hasn't. Sango.. I learnt to control it a long time ago. Why is it a concern to you? Not that I don't mind you calling, but I have a feeling you're dying to tell me something but cannot for some reason." – he scratched the hair that stood behind his ears in earnest. He sensed that Sango REALLY needed to speak to him but couldn't understand what about.

"_It's important that we speak about your youki. I think something monumentally strange is going to happen to you on your–"_

And then the line went dead. He tried doing the redial button twice but found to his amazement that it didn't do what he told it to do. A few minutes later, the house's electricity shut down and the house went dark.

"Is everyone ok?" – he heard Mrs. Higurashi ask and then he heard Kagome's grandfather saying that it was probably the beginning of a spring storm… which couldn't be right because they were still in fall season.

He moved over to the window of the foyer to look as it began to rain really hard. He was pretty sure that this was no ordinary rain and that it had nothing to do with a sudden spring _or _fall shower. This was done by an elemental demon he was sure. But the reasons as to why an elemental demon would mess with the weather exactly where he was at the moment proved to be difficult and he knew there was something really strange going on.

Sango was ready to pull her hair out. She was about to tell Inuyasha about the changes that he would have when he reached his eighteenth birthday… but the line went dead before she could say anything. It was definite… she was going back to Japan. She had to. Inuyasha was important to her and she _did_ see him as her family despite the fact that just recently her father didn't seem all that concerned about the hanyou.

She looked over at Kikyou and found her looking pensively at the sky.

"What is it?"

"The line went dead?" – she asked nonchalantly, but Sango could detect no inquiry in her tone of voice.

"Yeah.. and just when I was getting to the important part. Damn!"

"The line went dead due to something supernatural. It has the feeling of evilness all upon it. Someone doesn't want you to talk to Inuyasha about his upcoming birthday and the changes that it represents. You have to go. And if you go… I'll go too. He is my friend and I will defend him."

"Kikyou…" – she said softly surprised that the miko was that determined to do right by her friend.

"Sango… I think something really bad is going to happen and unfortunately Inuyasha is in the middle of it all. We need to go see him and make sure he is alright."

She nodded firmly. She turned to go and get her stuff ready to leave, when suddenly she saw Kaede. She was the old lady that had been her nana up until before Inuyasha came to live with them.

"I finally found you!" – she exclaimed.

"Yes Nana Kaede. You found me." – she said as she let herself be hugged by the blind old woman.

"Your papa would have my head if you went away without his knowledge. I have to get you ready for the ceremony that will happen tomorrow night. Your mama would be so proud of you. You're going to become the new Matron of the family." – and Sango furrowed her brow feeling like their was some sort of a conspiracy going on. What was the ceremony about and why did she feel like the sooner she was out of China, the better.

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A/N: I had uploaded the other version on Friday from last week. But as I was writing Part III, I discovered some missing pieces in the story. So I made the changes and here it is. Sad thing is – though I really appreciate the fact that some people have written a very good review – nobody that has reviewed up until now has told me of the missing pieces that did not connect with the story. Sigh. Anyway… I hope this clears up to those that did see it but like me don't like to review all that much.


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